Midwest rail network likely to get stimulus cash

April 24, 2009

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today that a proposed Midwest passenger high-speed rail network is among six corridors likely to share an $8 billion federal stimulus pot to modernize tracks and replace aging trains with new fleets.

LaHood said the Midwestern states should appoint a "rail czar'' to coordinate the program and work with governors and legislatures to complete the required studies and begin construction.

"This corridor needs to get their act together,'' LaHood told the Tribune's editorial board, pointing out that an additional $1 billion a year over five years will be awarded to the best high-speed rail programs.

"Here's how I explained it to Gov. (Pat) Quinn: You need to find somebody, maybe a retired rail person, who gets up everyday and the only thing that person thinks about is developing the high-speed rail corridor in the Midwest,'' LaHood said. "That's the way it is going to happen.''

The state transportation departments in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are leading an effort to operate trains traveling at 110 miles per hour through nine Midwestern states. Chicago would be the hub of the 3,000-mile network, which would extend to cities including St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City and Louisville.

Faster trains passing through Chicago could be operating as soon as 2012 to 2014 to Milwaukee and Madison, officials have said.

LaHood said he doesn't foresee trains ever exceeding speeds of 200 m.p.h. in the Midwest, due to the relatively short distance between cities and the cost of building dedicated high-speed tracks that do not cross over roads.

"If you get a train up to 150 or 160 miles an hour, that's faster than any train we've ever had in the history of trains,'' he said.

"We ought to define it by the idea that people can get on a train that's efficient, comfortable and cost-effective, get people out of their cars and really connect America,'' LaHood said.